The London Séance Society: A Novel by Sarah Penner

Available now

CW: a comprehensive list can be found on The StoryGraph

From the Publisher:

1873. At an abandoned château on the outskirts of Paris, a dark séance is about to take place, led by acclaimed spiritualist Vaudeline D’Allaire. Known worldwide for her talent in conjuring the spirits of murder victims to ascertain the identities of the people who killed them, she is highly sought after by widows and investigators alike.

Lenna Wickes has come to Paris to find answers about her sister’s death, but to do so, she must embrace the unknown and overcome her own logic-driven bias against the occult. When Vaudeline is beckoned to England to solve a high-profile murder, Lenna accompanies her as an understudy. With shared determination, the women find companionship that perhaps borders on something more. And as they team up with the powerful men of London’s exclusive Séance Society to solve the mystery, they begin to suspect that they are not merely out to solve a crime, but perhaps entangled in one themselves…

Reader Friends, this book is absolutely captivating! It’s lushly written with interesting and engaging characters and the setting is well developed and richly described. Penner does a great job of keeping you guessing with both the mystery behind Evie’s death and an even broader mystery that encompasses nearly everyone in the story. It truly has a little bit of everything: a mystery, a love story, betrayal, the supernatural, and some good ol’ female rage. It’s a book that I wanted to make time to read and I still find myself, weeks later, thinking about the characters.

Once again, this is a Book of the Month pick that I held on to for way too long; although I’ve come to consider these my “Break in Case of Emergency” books. This was from Mach of 2023 and since I enjoyed The Lost Apothecary so much, I knew it was going to be a good one.

If you’d like to add this gorgeous book to your shelf, you can click on the cover above for more ordering information. If you’re interested in Book of the Month, that I use my own real money on, you can use my referral link to get a great deal for yourself, and a free book for me. As always, check your local library for these gems and recommend the title if they don’t carry it.

This post may contain links, including Amazon Associate Links, and I may earn from qualifying purchases.

The Last Heir to Blackwood Library by Hester Fox

Available now

Here’s a list of CW from The StoryGraph.

From the Publisher:

With the stroke of a pen, twenty-three-year-old Ivy Radcliffe becomes Lady Hayworth, owner of a sprawling estate on the Yorkshire moors. Ivy has never heard of Blackwood Abbey, or of the ancient bloodline from which she’s descended. With nothing to keep her in London since losing her brother in the Great War, she warily makes her way to her new home.

The abbey is foreboding, the servants reserved and suspicious. But there is a treasure waiting behind locked doors: a magnificent library. Despite cryptic warnings from the staff, Ivy feels irresistibly drawn to its dusty shelves, where familiar works mingle with strange, esoteric texts. And she senses something else in the library too, a presence that seems to have a will of its own.  

Rumors swirl in the village about the abbey’s previous owners, about ghosts and curses, and an enigmatic manuscript at the center of it all. And as events grow more sinister, it will be up to Ivy to uncover the library’s mysteries in order to reclaim her own story—before it vanishes forever.

Reader Friends, this book contains a secret family, a secret library, a secret society, and a magical secret! It’s just secrets on secrets on secrets! I’m a sucker for a gothic romance and one that contains a hidden library with magical powers? Instantly hooked. I listened to this one on audio and the things I did to make sure I could keep listening…my floors were so clean and my house has never been so free of dust.

Fox does an excellent job of crafting one of the most sympathetic and enraging characters I’ve read. Ivy, young, alone, and living in poverty, is like a fish out of water in her new home. She wants nothing more than to spend her days in the hidden library cataloging and reading every book she can reach, but her household staff do everything in their powers to keep her away from her precious books. Unsure of how to truly conduct herself, Ivy is torn between asserting her place of power in the home and her easy-going, non-confrontational nature. At every point that I wanted to shake Ivy for acting so naive and trusting, the author not so gently reminds the reader of the era in which Ivy lives and her lack of agency as a young, single woman. Nearly every character felt like they had their hands tied in some way when it came to protecting Ivy, which was both infuriating and begrudgingly made sense with the story.

I really enjoyed how much Ivy was completely enthralled by her new home and it’s secrets. A former abbey, Ivy’s new home is incredibly large and she is constantly getting lost in newly discovered halls and rooms and there are even hidden passageways! She is hopelessly in love with her Library and immediately wants to share her new-found literary wealth with the rest of the village. It’s pretty hard to get too mad at a character who finds herself newly titled and her first thought is to start a Bookmobile!

For such a charming and magical story, this book is actually quite dark and disturbing. There is some serious gaslighting that goes on and Ivy is placed in some seriously dangerous situations by people who are supposed to care for her so definitely take care when reading this one.

If you want to add this enchanting tale to your library, you can click on the cover above or here for ordering information. I borrowed the audiobook version from my local Library using the Libby app so don’t forget to check if your Library already bought it for you.

This post may contain links, including Amazon Associate Links, and I may earn from qualifying purchases.

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

Available now

CW: homophobia, conversion therapy, religious trauma, emotional abuse, gaslighting, violence

Buckle up friends! Chuck has gifted us with a wild, horrifying nightmare inducing novel!

From the Publisher:

Welcome to Neverton, Montana: home to a God-fearing community with a heart of gold.

Nestled high up in the mountains is Camp Damascus, the self-proclaimed “most effective” gay conversion camp in the country. Here, a life free from sin awaits. But the secret behind that success is anything but holy.

And they’ll scare you straight to hell.

I really, really loved this book. I’ve read many a fun and quirky Chuck Tingle novella and if you have as well, please know that this is nothing like those zany erotic novellas. Camp Damascus is a terrifying and frank look at the ways the people closest to us can end up being the most dangerous to us. It’s fast paced, engrossing, and has complex characters.

At 20, Rose still lives at home with her extremely religious and god-fearing parents. Her religious beliefs guide her every thought, every decision, and every interaction with others. As she enters her final summer of high school, Rose begins to see terrifying images of a woman watching her from the woods. After the death of a dear friend, her memories become unreliable and Rose struggles to understand her parents’ motives and reactions to her grief and stress. It’s as Rose tries to find answers to the strange apparition haunting her that she discovers that there is a darker side to her church, her town, and her family.

If you would like to add this horror novel to your shelf, you can click on the cover or here for ordering information.

Thank you to Edelweiss and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own. This post may contain affiliate links, including Amazon Associate links, and I may earn from qualifying purchases.

It's Spooky Season! Slewfoot by Brom

Available now

CW: animal death and cruelty, human torture, patriarchal bs, horror related terror

It’s almost Spooky Season and this book needs to be on your reading list! It’s so creepy and dark and sad and infuriating and All The Things! I saw this title on a list of underrated horror novels and had never heard of it before and the title and cover immeadiately hooked me. I don’t know about you, but I’ve gotten pretty good at watching the clock app with my Library app up so I can immeadiately put books on hold.

Friends, this book gave me nightmares. You have to read it. It has illustrations! Incredibly creepy illustrations.

In 1666 Connecticut, a young woman named Abitha is facing eviction from her home and years of servitude to her brother-in-law after her husband’s tragic and mysterious death. After a desperate plea to the town’s leaders, Abitha is given one last chance to plant and harvest enough corn to pay off her husband’s debts and finally be free from her evil and overbearing BIL.

Deep in the woods, an ancient spirit is slowly awakening. Surrounded by impish and mischievous spirits, the ancient one struggles to remember his past and his connection to the woods around him. When he notices Abitha, he is drawn to her in ways he can’t explain. Intent on gaining her trust, he leaves her small gifts of food and offers protections against the threats of the local men and the law. His quiet and protective nature slowly begins to win Abitha over and when her situation turns dire, she knows he is the only one who can save her and the two begin a tenuous friendship.

Together, Abitha and Samson, the ancient one, work to thwart the threats against Abitha’s land, but end up inciting a war between the Pagans and the Puritans.

Slewfoot is a beautifully written horror tale set in Puritanical New England. From the first page, we know that Something is waking up in the forest. In that same forest, we meet Abitha and learn that this is not the life she dreamed for. Forced to cross an ocean and marry a man she had never met, she has to hide her mother’s Pagan teachings and beliefs and live the strict and austere life of a Puritan wife. She’s tired, cold, hungry and has lost their last goat in the woods. If that wasn’t enough stress, she feels guilty her husband isn’t disappointed in her and they return home to find his evil, nasty brother there to inform them he has sold their home to pay off his debts. Edward, Abitha’s husband, is a timid and meek man and really struggles to stand up for himself and his wife. Abitha can’t speak her mind without the threat of harm and punishment from the Puritanical town leaders. It’s this exchange that sets off a dangerous chain of events that pits Wallace, the BIL, against Abitha. The amount of patriarchal nonsense that we are forced to listen to from These Men! It was absolutely enraging to read but our Abitha is a fierce and determined soul who and it’s impossible to not root for her. Even at her lowest point, she never gives up and puts up an incredible fight against everyone who is wishing her her failure.

Samson, or the Ancient Spirit, is a fascinating character. He awakens with the help of spirits who look like small children in animal suits-and bizarre animals at that. A floating fish, a raven, and an opossum but with human children’s faces-you have to see the illustrations, they’re incredible. Samson is named for Abitha’s poor goat how was lured to his death to feed him. He has no memory and isn’t by nature a hateful or evil entity. Being around Abitha seems to calm him he is drawn to her in a way he can’t understand. As he grows into his power, he becomes more and more animated and friendly with Abitha, but he also grows incredibly protective of her. It makes for a fascinating dynamic because Abitha is convinced he’s the devil, but he doesn’t want to hurt her, and in fact, wants to protect her. Also, Abitha seems to have some powers of some kind…that are amplified by working her magic with Samson.

I don’t want to spoil the ending so I’ll leave you with this:

Abitha is incredible. I loved the journey her character ended up taking.

I loved this book and now I need everything written by this author.

Everything.

If you’d like to add this book to your shelf, you can click on the cover or here for ordering information.

As always, links are affiliate links, including Amazon Associate links, and I may earn from qualifying purchases. As always, tell your Library they need this on their shelves because we can’t know about EVERY book even though we wish we could.

Happy Spooky Season!

Flashback: The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

I’ve been on a great streak of spooky/creepy/thrilling books lately but short on time to squeal about them. Here’s one that I think about constantly and still infiltrates my dreams.

Available Now

I have absolutely fallen in love with this author’s books. They are this fantastic blend of horror, humor, and incredibly relatable characters. I loved the Hollow Places and couldn’t wait to get my hands on The Twisted Ones.

In The Twisted Ones, Melissa, who always goes by Mouse, is asked by her ailing father to help get her recently deceased grandmother’s house read for sale. What seems like a simple task quickly becomes overwhelming when Mouse discovers her grandmother was actually a hoarder. Piles of junk weave in and out of newspaper towers and the stench of mice and insects nearly cause Mouse to walk away and forget about any potential money from the sale. But Mouse knows her dad’s health isn’t good enough to take on this task, so she does her best to get started. As Mouse spends time in town buying supplies and hanging out at a coffee shop for the wifi and great drinks, she finds that she isn’t the only person who believed her grandmother to a terrible, horrible person. Dislike of her grandmother was a common theme amongst her neighbors and it became more and more puzzling why her step-grandfather every married her.

While cleaning out her step-grandfather’s room, she discovered that Frederick Cotgrave was obsessed with the idea that his wife had stolen and hidden a green book that belonged to him. Uncovering a typewritten manuscript, Mouse discovers that Cotgrave was convinced that there were creatures that lived in the woods and they were out to get him.

Cotgrave wasn’t wrong. As Mouse investigates further into what she believes are delusions of an unwell man, Mouse discovers that there are places within the woods that lead to dark, and terrifying lands full of the Twisted Ones. After her beloved dog Bongo goes missing in the woods, Mouse must save him from whatever fate the Twisted Ones have planned for him.

SPOILER

The dog lives.

I love how T. Kingfisher is able to write a horrifying novel that is also hilarious. There is the perfect balance of both in the two novels I have read and it’s just so well done. Again, my favorite trope of a book within a book plays out. Cotgrave describes in his journal a manuscript he wrote based on his memory of the Green Book that was given to him by a friend. Within that book is a story of a young woman who discovers small creatures that live in the woods and the journeys they go on together. By trade, Mouse is an editor and the way that she picks apart Cotgrave’s writing was so funny juxtaposed against the horrors he described in his writing. As Mouse uncovers more and more about the Twisted Ones, and her experiences become more and more unworldly, she is still cleaning out her grandmother’s house and describing what a horrible person she had been while throwing out multiple microwaves. The humor is very dark, and I loved it.

Kingfisher is able to create horror stories that are so close to reality that the terror level goes up with each page. Like in The Hollow Places, the threat to Mouse and Bongo is very close to home. It’s literally in their backyard and can attack at any time. Mouse is in a new area without any friends or family close and knows that it’s incredibly unlikely that anyone would ever believe her story. She doesn’t know if she believes her story. And worst yet, her dog goes missing! This book is so stressful and engrossing that it was one sitting read for me. If you love horror that contains more suspense, mystery, and fear of the unknown, as opposed to blood, torture and gore, this is a great book for you.

If you would like to add this book to your collection, you can find more information here:

This post contains affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases.

The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

Available Now

I have absolutely fallen in love with this author’s books. They are this fantastic blend of horror, humor, and incredibly relatable characters. I loved the Hollow Places and couldn’t wait to get my hands on The Twisted Ones.

In The Twisted Ones, Melissa, who always goes by Mouse, is asked by her ailing father to help get her recently deceased grandmother’s house read for sale. What seems like a simple task quickly becomes overwhelming when Mouse discovers her grandmother was actually a hoarder. Piles of junk weave in and out of newspaper towers and the stench of mice and insects nearly cause Mouse to walk away and forget about any potential money from the sale. But Mouse knows her dad’s health isn’t good enough to take on this task, so she does her best to get started. As Mouse spends time in town buying supplies and hanging out at a coffee shop for the wifi and great drinks, she finds that she isn’t the only person who believed her grandmother to a terrible, horrible person. Dislike of her grandmother was a common theme amongst her neighbors and it became more and more puzzling why her step-grandfather every married her.

While cleaning out her step-grandfather’s room, she discovered that Frederick Cotgrave was obsessed with the idea that his wife had stolen and hidden a green book that belonged to him. Uncovering a typewritten manuscript, Mouse discovers that Cotgrave was convinced that there were creatures that lived in the woods and they were out to get him.

Cotgrave wasn’t wrong. As Mouse investigates further into what she believes are delusions of an unwell man, Mouse discovers that there are places within the woods that lead to dark, and terrifying lands full of the Twisted Ones. After her beloved dog Bongo goes missing in the woods, Mouse must save him from whatever fate the Twisted Ones have planned for him.

SPOILER

The dog lives.

I love how T. Kingfisher is able to write a horrifying novel that is also hilarious. There is the perfect balance of both in the two novels I have read and it’s just so well done. Again, my favorite trope of a book within a book plays out. Cotgrave describes in his journal a manuscript he wrote based on his memory of the Green Book that was given to him by a friend. Within that book is a story of a young woman who discovers small creatures that live in the woods and the journeys they go on together. By trade, Mouse is an editor and the way that she picks apart Cotgrave’s writing was so funny juxtaposed against the horrors he described in his writing. As Mouse uncovers more and more about the Twisted Ones, and her experiences become more and more unworldly, she is still cleaning out her grandmother’s house and describing what a horrible person she had been while throwing out multiple microwaves. The humor is very dark, and I loved it.

Kingfisher is able to create horror stories that are so close to reality that the terror level goes up with each page. Like in The Hollow Places, the threat to Mouse and Bongo is very close to home. It’s literally in their backyard and can attack at any time. Mouse is in a new area without any friends or family close and knows that it’s incredibly unlikely that anyone would ever believe her story. She doesn’t know if she believes her story. And worst yet, her dog goes missing! This book is so stressful and engrossing that it was one sitting read for me. If you love horror that contains more suspense, mystery, and fear of the unknown, as opposed to blood, torture and gore, this is a great book for you.

If you would like to add this book to your collection, you can find more information here:

This post contains affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases.

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

Available Now

This book is so good! I’m pretty sure I read the majority of it aloud to the Hubs and giggled through 90% of it. It’s so, so, so good. So good. It’s so good that I know that anything I have to say about it won’t do it justice so just know, it’s amazing.

Ok, we have the three Eastwood sisters: Beatrice Belladonna, Agnes Amaranth, and James Juniper. It’s 1893 and the three of them grew up with a horribly abusive father who drove them apart, and because of many different events, they haven’t seen each other for over seven years. Agnes has been working her fingers to the bone at the cotton mill, keeping her head down, and trying to stay out of reach of the disgusting and grabby foremen. Beatrice has found a comfortable job as a university librarian and has lived a simple and quiet life on her own. After Juniper finds herself on the run from the law and wandering the city of New Salem, she discovers that her sisters have been in the city all this time, completely unaware of each other. The three of them are drawn together when Beatrice unknowingly recites a spell that creates a mystical connection between them and opens up the gateway to the magical library of Avalon, the center of all magical knowledge. Hurt and betrayed that her sisters left her alone with their abusive father while they began new lives, Agnes sets off to join the newly formed suffragist movement, but not to earn the right to vote. Agnes wants to bring back magic. 

That’s right-witches are real and Agnes and her sisters are all witches. With the help of women from all over New Salem, the three sisters set out to bring back the black tower of Avalon and restore magic to all women. 

I absolutely love alternate history, especially when it’s alternate history with magic. Magic is a known element in this version of New Salem and the men fear nothing more than a female witch. Men are allowed to practice magic but women are threatened with burning if they dare to cast any type of spell, even one as simple as making your hair look good. You can’t have a witch uprising without an evil witch hunter, and that part is played by Gideon Hill, a mysterious man of power that has a cult-like following in New Salem. This book also contains my absolute favorite catnip - books with hidden stories. The stories that were told to the girls by their grandmother held vital information disguised as fairy tales. As the story progresses, these hidden stories become a shared theme amongst many of the women who join forces with the sisters.

Of all the sisters, Juniper is my favorite. She is fearless, driven, and wants nothing more than to tear down the patriarchy. She runs headfirst into every situation and never backs down. Even though she feels her sisters betrayed her, she’s still willing to sacrifice herself to keep them safe. The relationship between the three sisters is very complicated. They all have their own secrets to protect, but they also have some serious misunderstandings about each other’s motivations. The sisters find support for their cause from women all over New Salem. I really enjoyed how it was such a diverse group of women, and a few men, who were so supportive in providing shelter, spells, ingredients, and moral support and there are some interesting ties to the history and lore of the underground railroad. 

This is another chunker of a book, coming in at over 500 pages in the hardcover version. My last few reads were all big books, but all moved very quickly and this one just flew by. In between many of the chapters, there are fairy tales from the sisters’ childhood that provide clues to the source of the witch’s magic and I loved seeing how they fit into the story. While the story itself is pretty grim, the women face torture and death if they are caught practicing magic, the book never feels bleak. If anything, Juniper’s drive to smash the patriarchy and her complete lack of regard for authority help to keep the tone lighter and it’s there are many parts that are downright hilarious. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I can’t wait to hear what others have to say about it. If you would like a copy for your own collection, or as a gift for the witchy book lover in your life, you can find ordering information here:

This post contains affiliate links and I do earn from qualifying purchases.